


Cellular Desperation

by Fitzfire



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-27 20:06:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10044872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fitzfire/pseuds/Fitzfire
Summary: Armin wanted a lab partner. What he got was a boyfriend.





	

The problem was that Armin didn’t really have any friends in his AP biology class. So on the third day of school, when it came time to pick lab partners, he was a bit of a situation. As soon as it became clear that lab partners would not be assigned by the teacher, his classmates were shooting up out of their seats. The rat race began with everyone frantically rating everyone else on desirability and ended with sporadic shuffling toward each of their first choices.

Armin had thought maybe, just maybe, someone would have the foresight to pick him because he was smart. It didn’t matter who it was, he’d do all the work regardless. But no, that wasn’t how high schoolers thought. Grades weren’t important, it was socializing that mattered.

And apparently, Armin wasn’t fun to socialize with.

The room was thinning out. People had already congregating together with their chosen partners by the walls. There were only a few stragglers left. The teacher would start pairing people up soon and Armin couldn’t let happen to him. He might as well announce to the entire class that he only had one friend.

Armin scanned the room. There had to be someone.

A few kids were talking in the middle, but they were the kind who had too many friends and now were arguing over which person paired off with whom. There was one boy in the back watching but not bothering to participate. Didn’t this guy know he’d be pulled aside by the teacher? Did he care?

The kids in the middle seemed to be resolving their argument. That meant the boy in the back was Armin’s only option.

He should probably go introduce himself.

The boy was of average height, with an average haircut, and was wearing an average ensemble of a t-shirt and jeans. He wasn’t really looking anywhere in particular, or maybe he was reading the lab safety posters.

Armin gathered his courage and spoke. “Riveting stuff.”

“That?” The boy glanced up, looking at Armin like he’d had no idea what the blonde boy could possibly be talking to him for.

“The posters.” Armin shifted nervously. “I’m not sure it would have occurred to me not to eat lab chemicals if I hadn’t seen it posted up there on the wall.” He was rather proud of himself for coming up with this.

Eren glanced back at the poster. “Yeah, but Jean’s in this class.” He wasn’t joking.

“Who’s Jean?” Armin asked, even though he already knew exactly who Jean was. He had to keep up the conversation somehow.

“My lab partner. He’s not here today.”

Crap.

“Oh,” was all Armin said. He looked behind him and saw that, yes, everyone else was already paired up. The teacher was looking directly at them now. This was going to be so extremely embarrassing.

“Were you coming over to ask me to be yours?”

“Uh, yeah, but don’t worry about it.” He hoped this black haired boy was worrying about it. Just a little.

But when Armin looked back, he saw that, no, this wasn’t bothering the boy one bit. In fact, he smiling broadly, and not in a very nice way. Was this guy really that big of an asshole to laugh in the face of Armin’s anguish?

“Perfect! Yes, please be my lab partner. Jean can go screw himself. I’m Eren by the way.”

Armin was already starting to pity himself.

 

* * *

 

 

“Eren you douchecanoe!” Jean snapped at Eren the next day.

“The hell is a douchecanoe?” Eren jerked his head back toward where Jean was sitting a few lab benches away. “Look, it isn’t my fault! I didn’t not want to be your partner, but the blonde kid over here… what’s your name again? Carl?”

“It’s Armin.”

“Yeah, Armin. Armin needed a partner and I felt bad, so I didn’t really have a choice. It just so happens that because of my kindness, you have to work alone.”

“I don’t want to smell the shit you’re pulling out of your ass right now.” Jean turned away and pointedly ignored Eren.

Eren leaned over toward Armin. “He’s a douchenozzle. I only tolerate him because he’s dating my sister.” If this was toleration, Armin didn’t want to know Eren handled people he didn’t abide.

Eren was smiling conspiratorially and Armin tried his best to smile back. In reality, he was trying to figure out what he could switch into during this period.

Eren blinked. “You have very blue eyes, did you know that.”

He did know that.

 

* * *

 

The first lab of the year was a week from that first Thursday. The procedure was rather simple, test the pH of a few different solutions and record the data. But you never could be sure how able any individual high schooler on any given day would be at following simple directions.

Eren seemed to know how to read at least. However, as soon as Armin’s back was turned, he heard the sound of shattering glass.

“Eren, I swear to god. How the fuck did you manage to drop the very first test tube you picked up!”

“Jean, I’m going to shove all these shards right up your ass if you don’t shut the hell up.”

When something even mildly in inconvenient happened, Armin was the kind of person that stopped whatever he was doing and stare at the wall for a few minute. That way, whatever had just been fucked up would resolve itself on its own.

After an adequate thirty seconds, Armin turned back around and assessed the situation.

“You’re bleeding,” Armin observed.

“It’s fine,” Eren said as drops of blood landed on the floor.

Armin grabbed a couple paper towels from the dispenser and dipped half of them under the faucet. He took Eren’s hand and examined it closely. The wound on Eren’s pointer finger looked like an exaggerated paper cut. Armin blotted at the blood with the wet paper towels. It wasn’t doing much good. Armin sighed in frustration. He had this insane urge to put Eren’s fingers in his mouth a suck until the bleeding stopped, but he pushed the gay away.

Wait, was he...

Really?

For Eren?

Armin dropped his lab partner’s hand and said in a monotone. “You should probably get a band aid from the nurse’s office.”

Eren blinked at him slowly, disconcerted.

 

* * *

 

It took Armin about a week to fully accept his growing crush on Eren and then another to decide that those feelings were valid. Usually, Armin overanalyzed his crushes until he found evidence of incompatibility. He and Reiner had nothing in common, Connie was the straightest person Armin had ever met, Marco was in love with Jean, there as always something. Once Armin found it, he’d easily be able to just let the matter go, writing any feelings he had for a person as misplaced.

Armin was having trouble finding that something in Eren.

Most of the time, Eren was distant and broody, maybe even a little bit awkward. The only person he smiled or joked with in class was the very reserved Historia. Yes, Eren was aggressive as well, but any hostility was almost exclusively directed toward Jean. And while Armin knew he was making excuses for Eren, he maintained that the black haired boy only truly got riled up when Jean started talking about his girlfriend.

Armin said to him once “why do you get so upset when Jean starts talking about Mikasa?” Armin didn’t want to come right out and asked whether the black haired boy had a crush. That would have been too obvious. In the end, though, it didn’t really matter. Historia saw through him.

“He wants to know if you’re crushing on Mikasa,” she translated, smiling.

Eren almost dropped the beaker her was holding.

Armin hadn’t heard Jean coming up behind them until the taller blonde was laughing. “Mikasa’s his sister, and besides Eren’s a f-“

“If you say what I think you’re about to say, I will tear your balls off. Then I’ll tell Mikasa to stop having sex with you for a month.”

“Eren’s a homosexual.” Jean corrected himself. The second part seemed to have really shaken him.

“Thank you,”

Armin couldn’t help but find that information very interesting.

 

* * *

 

 

Why couldn’t Eren have normal interests? If the other boy had been constantly talking about sports or parties or something else that required constant interaction with other humans, this whole situation would have been simple. But no, he was a low-key Marvel fanboy. Was Eren trying to kill him?

They were supposed to be writing a procedure together, but Armin had long since taken that job solely for himself. Eren had this baffling inability to write in third person passive voice, an unfortunate legacy of the long term sub he’d had for regular biology. Armin didn’t mind, he actually liked procedures. Planning a step by step progression from a starting point to a goal was something that made sense to Armin. Still, he couldn’t exactly tune out all the chatter around the room. Armin took note when he heard the words ghosts and demons and turned his head when Eren said the name Winchester with some enthusiasm.

“Armin do you watch Supernatural?” Historia asked, catching his gaze.

Historia was one of those very pretty and very intimidating girls that were somehow able to make everyone around them feel insecure regardless how nice they were. And Historia wasn’t actually that nice. She was okay.  She’d been the perfect teacher’s pet in middle school, but now she just kind of did her own thing with her best friend Ymir. Ymir and apparently Eren.

“I used to,” Armin said. He’d been a huge fan of the first five seasons, and the sixth season had been okay. After that, though, in his opinion, the quality of the show had dropped off significantly. But he didn’t want to say that.

“So you haven’t seen the new episode?” Eren looked over his shoulder. His eyes were shining in a way that made Armin furious at himself for not keeping up with the last six seasons.

“Uh, no.” Armin didn’t have a real reason to be nervous, but this insane idea that Eren would start judging him for not liking exactly the same things kept popping into his head. “I stopped half way through season seven. I haven’t really gotten back to it.”

Eren had completely turned around by now. “Now, I don’t want to spoil anything, but seriously you are _so_ missing out. I’d get on it ASAP.”

“But didn’t they kill death?” he asked, trying not to criticize what Eren liked, but needing to point out this glaring oxymoron.

“I know! It was awesome.”

“But how does that even work?”

“You haven’t seen the season yet.”

Armin still wasn’t convinced.

Eren held up a hand. “Look, I know that the writing did get worse. Nothing's ever going to live up to the sheer perfection that was season five, but let me just say that it really is worth wasting your time on.”

“Whatever you say Eren,” Armin said, liking that he was close enough with the other boy to joke around like this.

“No, listen!” Eren exclaimed. “I’m sure you’ve watched other crap before right? I guarantee you that you’ve watched shittier stuff. For example, Sherlock,”

“Eren that’s my show,” Historia complained

“America’s Next Top Model,”

“Nobody in this school, besides you, watches that.” That was from Historia again.

“Death Note.”

“Excuse me!” Armin almost shot up out of his chair. “What did you say about my favorite anime?”

“Light is the stupidest genius I’ve ever seen.”

“Why do you insult my son like this?”

“His brilliant plan to hide his McEdge book was to risk setting his house on fire.”

“He was smart enough to kill L!”

“L knew Light was Kira at the end of the first arc. If L wasn’t so obsessed with all his kinky bondage bullshit and foot fetish, Light would have so been dead before he even thought of erasing his memories.”

“But that’s the point! L was too obsessed with winning, while Near actually-“

“Guys, if you two don’t stop being weebs you’re going to fail this lab.”

Eren and Armin ignored her.

 

* * *

 

“I’m pretty sure I’m in love,” Armin told Marco at lunch.

“It’s been three and a half weeks Armin, you might want to consider chilling.”

“You don’t understand, he’s a tiny baby nerd I need to nurture into becoming a total loser. This is my one calling in life.”

Marco rolled his eyes. “Then why don’t you ask him out?”

 

* * *

 

 

“What the fuck is photosynthesis actually?” Eren groaned, flipping through his notes while they waited for plants to grow or something. Armin wasn’t really paying attention. Eren was wearing this black V-neck shirt that was driving him a little crazy.

“It’s the opposite process of Cellular Respiration,” Armin told him offhandedly, messing around on his phone. He was on Tumblr, yeah, and totally not surreptitiously taking picture of his lab partner.

Eren closed his binder. “Okay, I got that much. But there are, like, a billion steps to this thing. I might just fail the test tomorrow.”

Armin crinkled his nose. That didn’t sound right. Eren was usually very on top of his work, and while most things in the class didn’t come naturally to him, Eren put in a serious amount of effort into note taking and studying. Normally, that was enough to get him solid Bs on tests. The boy a lot more determined than most of the kids Armin’s age.

“I want to go to med school so I work overseas in war zones.” Eren had explained to Armin proudly a few days prior. “I think it’s really admirable that there are men and women in other countries who are willing to lay down their lives for freedom. Maybe it’s not my fight, but in a way it is. We share the same world after all.”

Did Armin mention that he really liked Eren? Like, a lot?

“You should get someone to tutor you,” Historia suggested. Armin saw her eyeing him.

“Uh, I guess could I come over and study with you?” Eren asked Historia with little enthusiasm. It didn’t sound like he expected her to say yes

“No. I’m busy,” Historia told him quickly. “Hey Armin, could you tutor Eren?”

Armin looked up, confused for a second. Then the anxiety hit him like a freight train. This was his chance!

“Yeah sure.” Armin hoped his voice didn’t sound as frightened as he felt.

“Geeze Armin, I’m not going to rob your house.” Armin cast his eyes toward the black haired boy, but Eren wasn’t looking at him. In fact, Eren had his whole face turned away and was staring at his stapled copy of lab procedures with an intensity Armin hadn’t ever seen anyone pay to a lab procedure ever. Historia smiled knowingly.

“As long as you promise to stay away from my dad’s rare book collection, I think we’ll be fine.” Armin attempted a little bit joke to make up for his stumbling blunder.

 

* * *

 

One of the many reasons Armin loved his father was the way Erwin could assess any situation in a matter of moments. Seconds after Eren and Armin had entered the apartment, Erwin had already realized exactly what Eren meant to Armin.

“You must be Eren Yeager.” Erwin smiled, holding his hand out for Eren to shake. Eren looked a little intimidated, but that wasn’t a particularly abnormal reaction. Erwin was an intimidating man.

“Hello Mr. Smith,” Eren said stiffly, taking Erwin’s hand awkwardly.

“A respectful man.” Erwin nodded in approval. Erne seemed to be relaxing some. He smiled just a little bit and Armin appreciated it.

“Alright dad thanks,” Armin said, nudging his father away. “We’ve got to study.”

“DO you want me to clear off the kitchen table or are you going to your room?” Erwin asked. Armin blinked in surprise. Erwin was going to let Armin bring Eren into his room?

Armin remembered another thing he loved about his father. He enjoyed setting people up. Armin’s main form of entertainment as a child was watching Erwin try to force his two best friends, Levi and Hanji, together. Now apparently he was moving on to his son, and Armin wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Armin was a little nervous to show Eren his room. Shelves were piled high with books and books and more books, plus there were posters all over the walls from different video games and animes and movies. He was kind of a huge Loki fanboy. He hoped that would weird Eren out.

It didn’t at all. In fact, the Avengers poster on Armin’s wall launched the two of them into an in-depth conversation as to whether Thor or Captain America was a better Avenger. Armin had agreed with Eren since the start, but he’d wanted to keep the conversation going so he’d played devil’s advocate. Eren eventually caught onto this.

“So Steve is your favorite?” Armin asked.

Eren rocked back on his knees, they were both sprawled out on Armin’s bed. “Captain America is my second favorite actually. Black Widow just barely makes it over him, but she does.”

Turns out Eren was a total feminist. He said he got it from his adopted sister. Honestly, Armin didn’t care where he’d gotten it from. Just to see this boy get so worked up about women’s rights and gender equality was a privilege and he was grateful. Not as grateful as he was to see Eren curled up on his bed, but close.

Armin had been staring too long. When he looked up into Eren’s face, the boy had an eyebrow raised.

“Weshouldprobablyptartworkingnow.” Armin rushed through the sentence until each word was indistinct from the last. He wasn’t even a hundred percent sure of what he’d said.

Eren nodded, smiling a bit at Armin’s expense. He hopped off the bed over to where his backpack was leaning against the door. He rifled through it, pulling out a thick seventy-page notebook with about seventy more loose sheets falling out.

“So what are you having trouble with?” Armin asked, trying to laugh off his idiocy.

“Besides everything?” Eren handed him his notebook, already flipped open to a color-coded diagram of the process of photosynthesis. Eren obviously had made an effort to organize everything on the paper neatly. Oddly enough, all of the other hastily stuck in pages were just clear and legible.

“Okay,” Armin said as Eren plopped back down next to Armin, leaning his back on the headboard. There was a perfectly good desk sitting against the far wall, but there was only rolly chair. Sure, there were kitchen chairs just a few steps out the door, but Armin had a very cute boy curled up next to him. It wasn’t in his best interests to act.

“Okay, the first thing you have to understand is the proton gradient. Inside the cell is a lot more positive than the outside. Okay?” Eren nodded.

Armin’s finger traced the diagram taped into Eren’s notebook. “Alright, so the first step here.” Eren was shifting closer, eyes focusing a little too intensely on the diagram. He made a little humming sound that was more than a little too close to Armin’s ear. Still, Armin continued. “It’s the pretty basic stuff at first. A photon of light hits the chlorophyll, we learned that in middle school.”

“Right, and then like an electron detaches from the chlorophyll or something?”

“Basically, the lingo is that the photon of light excites an electron on the highest energy level.” Eren’s hair was brushing against his neck, his chin resting lightly on Armin’s shoulder. In that moment, electrons weren’t the only thing getting excited. Armin shifted, unsure of whether he should lean closer or not. What if this wasn’t sexual at all? What if Eren was just a really really affectionate person?

What if he was just fucking with Armin because he knew Armin liked him?

“Sorry, did I get the wrong idea?” Eren asked drawing away.

“What?”

Eren looked away. His face slackening with passive annoyance directed not toward Armin, but toward himself. “Historia told me you liked me that way. Sorry, I’m just not good at shit like this.”

“Wait!” Armin caught his left arm.  Eren looked back, eyes sparkling with a small light. Armin smiled self-deprecatingly. “Sorry, I’m not good at this either.”

Eren was sitting back down. “So, you do…”

“I guess so,” Armin mumbled, feeling utterly embarrassed and put on the spot.

When Armin looked up, he saw the Eren was blushing was too, even behind the hand he’d thrown up to hide behind. Did that mean Eren had a thing for him too?

Armin liked his odds.

“Here, we have a lot more to go over,” Armin said in a voice somewhere between hesitant and playful. He grabbed the book with his other hand and scooted closer.

“Ah, yeah well, I actually kind of already know most of this stuff.” Eren’s words were almost incomprehensible. Almost.

“Oh my god Eren!” Armin cried.

“What else was I supposed to do?” Eren said defensively.

Armin rolled his eyes. “I don’t know, maybe ask me out on a date?”

Eren didn’t have a response.

Armin sighed dramatically and flopped back onto the bed. “Why don’t we watch some supernatural?”

Eren nodded enthusiastically.

 

* * *

 

 

Erwin had said Eren could stay for dinner. Usually, Armin and Erwin had dinner around six, but Erwin wasn’t knocking at Armin’s bedroom door until eight. By that time, Eren and Armin were curled up together, Armin gazing fixedly at the computer screen and Eren’s gaze wandering.

“Dinner’s ready,” Erwin called.

“Shit, I think he cooked.” Armin tried to sit up.

“Huh?” Eren asked, reluctant to relinquish his hold around Armin’s middle.

“Dad sucks at cooking. Usually he orders take out when mom’s working evening shifts, but he’s probably gotten it into his head that he needs to do something special because I have friends over.”

“Friend?” Eren asked, words tinged with disappointment.

Armin fell back into Eren’s arms. “Well, you haven’t asked for more than that.”

“Uh? So…”

“Hmm?”

“Do you want to… you know.”

“Do I?”

“Armin, be my boyfriend.”

Armin smiled into the crock of Eren’s neck and said that he would.

 

* * *

 

 

“So you guys were studying huh?” Erwin asked.

“Not really. We were mostly watching Netflix.”

“You Netflixed and chilled?”

“…no, not at all. And dad you shouldn't know that terms, let alone use it.”

“I’m hip Armin. I’m a cool dad.”

“Dad, go write your book or something.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked my writing or characterization, I've got a novel length fic going called Burning Airships. It's angst, it's a fantasy au, it's got plot, it's hurt/comfort. If that sounds like your jam you should go check it out.  
> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated.


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